Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
On Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:15:10 -0400, Steve Bonine wrote:
studying for now. My experience is that "CW" is a four-letter word. YMMV.

Y'know, what I've found around here is that most new licensees (who didn't
*have* to learn Morse) are interested in learning Morse.

(whether they'll actually take the time to do it is another question)

As long as one emphasizes it is not *required*, I think it would do more
good than harm to at least mention CW as an option.

You don't have to worry about me mentioning CW . . . other than in
disaster scenarios, almost all of my operating is on CW. I am a CW
bigot, and it would be impossible for me to teach a class without
letting my love of CW show.

But that view is very much not held by the members of the local radio
club. None of them can understand how anyone could actually enjoy CW.
I have tried to explain it, and I don't think I'm a bad ambassador for
CW, but it just doesn't click with them. Mostly I just let the CW digs
pass me by, but I have every intention of introducing CW (and other
non-voice modes) in the class.

I am thrilled to hear that there is a desire to learn CW by people who
were not forced to do so. I was hoping that would happen. I don't
think *I* would have, so I tend to extrapolate my tendencies to today's
new hams. It will be interesting to look back in a few years and try to
determine how many new CW ops have come on board.

73, Steve KB9X